Sunday, February 7, 2016

Thinking the Unthinkable: The End of the State of Israel?

Can you imagine a world without the state
of Israel?

I can’t, but Ron Rosenbaum can—even if the
American Jewish journalist and author hates to even think about the possibility.

In his December 14 essay inTabletmagazinetitled “Thinking The
Unthinkable: A Lamentation For The State Of Israel,” Rosenbaum writes that “I
believe the state of Israel may not survive. That its days are numbered.”

This is an idea, he says, that “nobody
wants to say it aloud. Not even whisper it.”

Yet, he fears it is a real possibility.
“The entire world has essentially turned on the Jewish state,” he says.

For proof, he cites “the sewer of
anti-Semitism that runs beneath the surface of social media,” the rise of ISIS,
increasing anti-Semitism in Europe, calls from North America for a boycott of
Israeli-produced products, and those who accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza
“while ignoring the explicit call for genocide in the Hamas charter.”

For many, this is “no big deal,” he
says—it’s been this way for 2,000 years. But things feel different for him now,
for two main reasons.

The first one is the declaration of Iran’s
Ayatollah Khameini last September that Israel will not exist in 25 years.

"I'd say (to
Israel) that they will not see (the end) of these 25 years,"Khameini stated in a report carried by CNN and other media in
September, last year, referencing the length of some of the restrictions on his
country in its newnuclear deal with western nations.

"God willing,
there will be no such thing as a Zionist regime in 25 years," he added.
"Until then, struggling, heroic andjihadimorale will leave no moment of
serenity for Zionists."

That was bad enough, but the other reason
Rosebaum is alarmed is the so-called “stabbing intifada,” where Israelis are
being wounded and killed by knife-wielding Palestinian attackers.

What
makes the stabbing Intifada so particularly horrific, he says, is that it not
warfare or insurgency, but the “ritual murder of Jews, which is an entirely new
form of anti-Semitic horror-show. “

He went on to cite a news story that
reported that 80 percent of Israeli children are afraid for the lives, and 64
percent are afraid to leave their homes.

“Talk about feeling precarious. . . . the
possibility will haunt every walk in the street, every trip to the market,
every stroll in a public place,” he wrote.

“All of Israel’s nuclear weapons cannot
“deter these attacks, cannot wipe out the memories, restore the losses. There
is no Iron Dome for internal defense of the soul.”

Does this all portend the end of the state
of Israel? “I don’t know,” he says. “I do think it portends the end of
optimism.”

After reading Rosenbaum’s essay, I asked
Alan Green, Rabbi at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue here in Winnipeg, for his opinion.
What did he think of what Rosenbaum had written?

“This is an article I could have written
myself,” said Green, a passionate supporter of Israel. “The dark picture he
paints is completely accurate. And I would agree that the demise of
Israel is a distinct possibility, but not necessarily a probability.”

Where he differs with the author is that Green is a person of faith, while
Rosenbaum self-described as non-religious.

Green believes that the founding of the
State of Israel in 1948 “is the fulfillment of Divine promises dating back to
the prophecies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, and intimately tied up with
the redemption of all humanity.”

He hopes the worst doesn’t come true, “but
the fact that Israel is facing off against the Mullahs of Iran, Hezbollah,
ISIS, Hamas, the Al Aksa Martyr's Brigade, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and a whole
host of other evil-doers makes for an apocalyptic situation.”

While Green fears for the future of Israel, he isn’t worried about
being a Jew in Winnipeg. “I think it's highly unlikely that anyone is
going to attack a Jew simply for being Jewish in Winnipeg, or anywhere else in
Canada,” he says.

While he thinks that Jews in Canada will continue to be safe into
foreseeable future, “Israel and Europe are an entirely different story.”